


See-Through

by RahDamon



Series: ML Fandom Week 2016 [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-09 00:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7779310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RahDamon/pseuds/RahDamon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an argument with his father Adrien doubts that he has friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See-Through

Adrien tried, he really did, but he couldn't concentrate on his lessons today. His teachers' words swam in one ear and out the other like carefree fish in the sea. Fish that quickly swam away from the maelstrom that was his mind.

 

He also couldn't help glancing to his right now and again. Nino was hardly ever writing down notes preferring to snooze or stare blankly at the white board. Usually Adrien would laugh lightly underneath his breath or elbow his friend but today it seemed like an indication of Nino's fickleness. The urge to turn around and glance at Alya also arose again and again but he could suppress it, thankfully. Turning back would be much more noticeable than glancing to his side, after all.

 

But Adrien was 90% sure that she'd have the Ladyblog open under her table constantly checking for new comments, messages and akuma alerts. ( One day he'd have to find a way to thank her for the site. Not only was it immensely useful in catching wind of the akuma but it also gave him pictures of His Lady to admire.) Also a sign of fickleness.

 

His friends weren't fickle, though. They wouldn't drop him like a hot potato at the slightest sign of weakness or possibility that he'd get poorer. They weren't as shallow as to be friends with him because of his fame or money. No matter what his father said.

 

Yet the fear that his friends were exactly like that wouldn't leave Adrien making him feel guilty and apprehensive at once. Guilty that he was even contemplating that statement to be true, apprehensive that they were true.

 

The pencil in his hand snapped. Luckily (he almost laughed) the bell rang for lunch in exactly that moment. Adrien stayed seated, simply shaking his head with a shaky smile as Nino threw him a questioning glance. Miming a pillow and a few z's made Nino grin and nod before he met up with Alya and they flooded out of the classroom like everyone else.

 

Adrien let his mask fall and was about to open his bag so Plagg could fly out when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Like a cat he yowled and shot out of his seat whirling around and dropping into a fighting stance.

 

It was Marinette and she was staring at him with wide eyes and red cheeks. Adrien felt his own cheeks color before he relaxed, took his normal stance and grinned a (fake) cheeky smile at her.

 

“Hey Marinette. Can I help you?”

 

She was frowning at him slowly retracting her arm and fiddling with her hands cheeks still bright red. He watched curiously how she opened her mouth and closed it again a few times before taking a deep breath.

 

“W-what's wrong, A-adrien? Are you okay?”

 

For a moment Adrien felt like he had been struck too hard by an akuma. She had noticed that he wasn't feeling too well? That … he thought he was too good at faking to be afraid and Marinette still noticed something was wrong?

 

“Yeah, just a bit tired. I thought I could catch up on a lil' bit of sleep now.”

 

“That's not it,” she said. “You .. are sad, I think? Not just tired ...” Her voice trailed off and her eyes flickered up to his for the briefest of moments before returning to the ground.

 

His breath stocked for a moment. She wasn't buying his excuse. The one girl that didn't like to hang out with and she saw right through him, well, not completely but enough to tear away a fraction of his mask.

 

“Y-you can trust me, you know? We're fr-friends!”

 

“Are we?” He cut in sharper than he intended. Although he considered her one of his first friends, she was and acted more like an acquaintance than like a friend. Meekly, she never talked to him, and he had noticed, only him, Adrien Agreste. Could they be called friends when she didn't want to talk to him or seem to like him?  
  


Her mouth hang open and something like indignation fluttered through them as she almost hissed “Of course.”

 

“You don't really seem to like me, Marinette.”

 

“What the hell gave you that idea?” She had shot up and sounded genuinely upset. At the same time her hands clenched and unclenched and she was full of fire.

 

However, her use of a swear word shocked Adrien. He had never heard her curse, or at least not in his vicinity. It didn't fit the image of the girl he had, the image of the paradoxical girl that sat behind him.

 

“You always trying to get away from me? Avoiding me? Behaving stiffly?”

 

At each of his points Marinette flinched seeming to shrink in on herself and the fact that he caused this made him feel rotten. But he was only speaking the truth as he saw it.

 

“Trust me, I like you,” she said almost sighing and hiding her face between her hands. “Too much, actually.”

 

“What?”

 

“The point is, something's wrong. And if you don't want to talk to me, talk to Nino! Or Alya! Or even Cloe! Any of your friends is fine.”

 

The “I'm not sure I have any” slipped out before he could shut his mouth and his eyes widened. As Marinette gaped at him Adrien winced. Well, that was his bad luck making up for the lucky coincidence of the bell hiding the snapping sound of his pen.

 

“Are you kidding me?” Marinette pressed out between clenched teeth before darting forward and gripping his shirt. Then she dragged him behind her uncaring of his yelping and winding. This was when Adrien realized that Marinette was stronger than her dainty frame suggested and that even with his enhanced strength she was still stronger.

 

By the time he had thought through the implications of that Marinette had thrown him in front of their class in the backyard. All of them were watching with wide eyes although Adrien could see Chloe taking in an indignant breath. He was almost sure she was going to start yelling when Marinette began speaking.

 

“This boy, here, is insecure as hell. He doesn't really think he has any friends. Wanna prove him wrong?”

 

And then he was swamped by his classmates yelping as he was hugged and coddled and patted on the back. Everyone was talking to him but what got to him more were their eager and reassuring expression or snorting and roll-eyeing ones. More so, he felt a warmth settle in his bones as he took in their sincerity.

 

Adrien had friends. He was sure of that, no matter what his father said. And, taking a glance at Marinette who hadn't joined the crowd around but instead was looking at it and him satisfied, perhaps he had even more than that.

 

 


End file.
